{"id":2320,"date":"2026-04-02T07:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com\/sea\/legal\/?post_type=insight_resource&#038;p=2320"},"modified":"2026-04-22T17:24:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:24:06","slug":"state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026","status":"publish","type":"insight_resource","link":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com\/sea\/legal\/resources\/resource\/state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026","title":{"rendered":"2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report: GCs align strategy to corporate imperatives, but C-Suites want more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This article is adapted from \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en-us\/posts\/corporates\/state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026\/#You-can-download\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en-us\/posts\/corporates\/state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026\/#You-can-download\">2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report<\/a>,\u201d originally published by Thomson Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Corporate legal departments have embraced value, AI, and data-driven strategies to better align with their organizations\u2019 overall business goals, but a new report reveals a disconnect: C-Suite leaders want clearer proof of legal&#8217;s impact on business success<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Key takeaways:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>A need to find new ways to demonstrate value<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Legal departments are under increasing pressure to do more with less, as nearly half of GCs surveyed cite staffing and resource constraints as their top barrier to delivering additional value. Despite these limitations, expectations from the C-Suite continue to rise.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>AI adoption accelerates, business strategy comes next<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014 Legal departments are rapidly embracing technology to improve efficiency, manage resources, and address cost pressures. Not surprisingly, the proportion of GCs calling AI a&nbsp;<em>strategic imperative<\/em>&nbsp;has doubled.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Disconnect between legal departments and C-Suite perceptions<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 While many general counsel believe their departments are significant contributors to business success, most C-Suite executives do not share this view. Fully 86% of GCs say they believe their department is a significant contributor, but only 17% of C-Suite executives agree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Although legal departments have established a solid foundation upon which a business can stand, ultimately, C-Suites don\u2019t want just a foundation. They want help building the entire house, the report shows, directly enabling the services that companies provide to customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fill in the form<\/strong> to get a copy of the <strong>2026 State of the Corporate Law Department<\/strong> report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article is adapted from \u201c2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report,\u201d originally published by Thomson Reuters. Corporate legal departments have embraced value, AI, and data-driven strategies to better&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2322,"template":"","categories":[944,710,10],"tags":[44,954,251,343,353,356,357,425,543],"resource_type":[594],"insight_job_role":[595,607],"insight_practice_area":[],"class_list":["entry","author-legaladmin","post-2320","insight_resource","type-insight_resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-corporate","category-leadership-strategy","category-legal","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-corporate-law-departments","tag-general-counsel","tag-legal-market","tag-legal-service-delivery","tag-legal-technology","tag-legal-tracker","tag-practical-law","tag-westlaw","resource_type-full-report","insight_job_role-general-counsel","insight_job_role-legal-operations-manager","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>State of the Corporate Law Department 2026 Thomson Reuters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report reveals how GCs are proving value, aligning with the C\u2011suite, and integrating AI into legal strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com\/sea\/legal\/resources\/resource\/state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State of the Corporate Law Department 2026 Thomson Reuters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report reveals how GCs are proving value, aligning with the C\u2011suite, and integrating AI into legal strategy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com\/sea\/legal\/resources\/resource\/state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report-2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TR - 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